Struggling families giving up hot water and cooked food in order to pay power bills

Australia is in the grip of a power crisis – crippling costs and unreliable supply.

A record number of families are on hardship plans or deferred payments and the rate of disconnections in most states has risen sharply.

For many, lives have been tailored simply around trying to afford their next electricity bill – resulting in no hot water or cooked food.

This Sunday on 60 Minutes, reporter Liz Hayes investigates our power crisis, in a search for answers and cost-effective solutions for those who need it most.

“Australia – one of the richest nations in the world with natural energy resources, whether it be coal, gas, wind, sun and hydro – still fails to ensure all households have reliable and cheap electricity,” Hayes said.

“We pay double for electricity than those living in most big cities in America. I’m not kidding.

“It is appalling therefore that we have people – and it’s mostly the vulnerable – who are fearful of putting the jug on for a cuppa lest they overstretch the budget.

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“It is unforgiveable that the elderly are collecting bread rolls from the local bakery that would otherwise go to the tip.

“And it verges on sickening that many of those same people are also wearing four pairs of socks and are layering up with extra blankets in winter to guard against the cold.

“A heater is out of the question.”

Sharing Hayes’ shock at Australia’s current energy crisis is American billionaire Elon Musk, whose development of electric cars and space rockets is seeing technology push the boundaries like never before.

All of this is driven by his belief that if we are to survive climate change, we need to develop renewable energy.

In Sunday’s report, Musk tells Hayes he believes the answer to affordable energy is sitting in our own backyard.

Sun and wind alone are in abundance, and the development of highly advanced lithium batteries means their energy can now be stored.

“A somewhat wide-eyed billionaire Elon Musk rode into town oblivious to the national debate taking place over energy,” Hayes said.

“Of course he was aware of trouble down pit, as they say, in South Australia, after a massive storm last year saw the state lose power.”

At the time Tesla said in an article that it could help stabilise the state’s power grid with a large energy storage battery.

Musk was challenged in a very public tweet by another billionaire, Mike Cannon Brooks, the head of Australian IT company Atlassian. And when Musk tweeted back that he could do it – within 100 days or your money back – it was game on.

“Today, in Jamestown in South Australia, a battery, the biggest in the world, is taking shape,” Hayes said.

“Cannon Brooks – who by the way has never met Musk – couldn’t be happier.

“But both want to make it clear the battery isn’t designed to power all of the state. It’s there to add stability.”

While Australian federal, and state, politicians scramble to address the problem, Musk – somewhat stunned by the way many Australians are forced to live – says he wants to help.

“But the truth is when it comes to power, Australians are victims of politics,” Hayes said.

“For a decade Australia has had no clear energy policy.

“The result is investors aren’t risking their money until there is a clear direction.

“There is only one clear prediction I can make. People power will have to and probably will in the end, dictate action.

“Because very soon they will have had enough, and to steal a line from the Hollywood film Network they’ll soon be saying, ‘I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!’”

Despite the government’s proposed new energy policy, Hayes says little will change immediately for Australians grappling with their power bills, fearful of the approaching hot summer.

“This is a story I hope will show Australia is dragging its feet because the rest of the world is marching forward to the beat of the renewable drum,” Hayes said.

“Follow the money trail and you’ll find around the world investors have already declared fossil fuels are yesterday’s heroes.

“Renewables are the future. Actually they’re the present.

“If only we could look out the window to see the future right is sitting right in our own backyard.”

‘Shock and Poor’ airs this Sunday on 60 Minutes, after The Block finale. For more information, visit the Extra Minutes website.